Articles | Volume 22, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-437-2018
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-437-2018
Research article
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18 Jan 2018
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 18 Jan 2018

Can riparian vegetation shade mitigate the expected rise in stream temperatures due to climate change during heat waves in a human-impacted pre-alpine river?

Heidelinde Trimmel, Philipp Weihs, David Leidinger, Herbert Formayer, Gerda Kalny, and Andreas Melcher

Data sets

Abiotic and biotic data of the rivers Pinka and Lafnitz 2012 - 2014 H. Trimmel, G. Kalny, F. Dossi, H. Formayer, W. Graf, P. Leitner, D. Leidinger, I. Nadeem, H. P. Rauch, P. Weihs, and A. Melcher https://doi.org/10.15504/fmj.2017.22

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Short summary
In eastern Austria, where air temperature rise is double that recorded globally, stream temperatures of a human-impacted river were simulated during heat waves, as calculated by regional climate models until 2100. An increase of up to 3 °C was predicted – thus exceeding thresholds of resident cold-adapted species. Vegetation management scenarios showed that adding vegetation can reduce both absolute temperatures and its rate of increase but is not able to fully mitigate the expected rise.